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Kazu Sueishi, president of American Society of A-bomb Survivors, dies at 90

On June 13, it was learned that Kazu Sueishi (Kazue Sueishi was her birth name), president of the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors, has died. She was 90 years old. Ms. Sueishi had been involved in efforts to provide health check-ups for A-bomb survivors living in North America.

According to the group, she died of a heart attack at her home in Torrance, California in the early morning hours of June 12. The date of her funeral service has not yet been confirmed.

Ms. Sueishi was born in the United States and experienced the atomic bombing in Hiroshima when she was 18. She returned to the United States after the war ended. In 1977, when the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association and other organizations began conducting health check-ups for A-bomb survivors living in North America, she lent her support by serving as the local supervisor for check-ups in Los Angeles. She also shared her account of the Hiroshima bombing in the United States.

Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui both issued statements after learning of her death. Mr. Yuzaki wrote, “She made an important contribution to realizing the health check-ups by doctors from her hometown of Hiroshima despite the fact that there was no assistance being given to the A-bomb survivors living in North America at that time.” Meanwhile, Mr. Matsui stated that she had worked hard to support local A-bomb survivors in North America for many years.

(Originally published on June 14, 2017)

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